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Wednesday, July 16th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Good News Translation

Jeremiah 38:5

King Zedekiah answered, "Very well, then, do what you want to with him; I can't stop you."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Persecution;   Rulers;   Zedekiah;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Persecution;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Pashur;   Zedekiah;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Gedaliah;   Jeremiah;   Zedekiah;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Pashur;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Ebed-Melech;   Kings, the Books of;   Zedekiah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Jeremiah;   Prison, Prisoners;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Greek Versions of Ot;   Pashhur;   Zedekiah,;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Law of Moses;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Judah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gedaliah;   Pashhur;   Zedekiah (2);   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ebed-Melech;   Pashur;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
King Zedekiah said, “Here he is; he’s in your hands since the king can’t do anything against you.”
Hebrew Names Version
Tzidkiyahu the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he who can do anything against you.
King James Version
Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.
English Standard Version
King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you."
New American Standard Bible
And King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you."
New Century Version
King Zedekiah said to them, "Jeremiah is in your control. I cannot do anything to stop you."
Amplified Bible
Then King Zedekiah [fearing the princes] said, "Listen, he is in your hand; for the king is in no position to do anything against you."
World English Bible
Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he who can do anything against you.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Zedekiah the King sayd, Behold, he is in your hands, for ye King can denie you nothing.
Legacy Standard Bible
So King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you."
Berean Standard Bible
"Here he is," replied King Zedekiah. "He is in your hands, since the king can do nothing to stop you."
Contemporary English Version
Zedekiah replied, "Do what you want with him. I can't stop you."
Complete Jewish Bible
Tzidkiyahu the king said, "All right, he is in your hands; for the king can't prevent you from doing as you please."
Darby Translation
And king Zedekiah said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do a thing against you.
Easy-to-Read Version
So King Zedekiah said to the officials, "Jeremiah is in your control. I cannot do anything to stop you."
George Lamsa Translation
Then King Zedekiah said, Behold, he is in your hands; for the king cannot say anything to you.
Lexham English Bible
And Zedekiah the king said, "Look, he is in your hand, for the king is not able to do a thing against you."
Literal Translation
And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand. For the king cannot do anything against you.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Sedechias the kinge answered and sayde: lo, he is in yor hodes, for ye kige maye denye you nothinge.
American Standard Version
And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do anything against you.
Bible in Basic English
Then Zedekiah the king said, See, he is in your hands: for the king was not able to do anything against them.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then Zedekiah the king said: 'Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.'
King James Version (1611)
Then Zedekiah the king sayd, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Zedekia the kyng aunswered, and sayde, Lo, he is in your handes: for the kyng may denie you nothyng.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For ye have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant ye, and praise.
English Revised Version
And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And kyng Sedechie seide, Lo! he is in youre hondis, for it is not leueful that the kyng denye ony thing to you.
Update Bible Version
And Zedekiah the king said, Look, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do anything against you.
Webster's Bible Translation
Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he [is] in your hand: for the king [is] not [he that] can do [any] thing against you.
New English Translation
King Zedekiah said to them, "Very well, you can do what you want with him. For I cannot do anything to stop you."
New King James Version
Then Zedekiah the king said, "Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you."
New Living Translation
King Zedekiah agreed. "All right," he said. "Do as you like. I can't stop you."
New Life Bible
So King Zedekiah said, "He is in your hands. The king can do nothing against you."
New Revised Standard
King Zedekiah said, "Here he is; he is in your hands; for the king is powerless against you."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said King Zedekiah, - Lo! he is in your hand; for the king is not one who is able to do anything against you.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And king Sedecias said: Behold he is in your hands: for it is not lawful for the king to deny you any thing.
Revised Standard Version
King Zedeki'ah said, "Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you."
Young's Literal Translation
And the king Zedekiah saith, `Lo, he [is] in your hand: for the king is not able for you [in] anything.'
THE MESSAGE
King Zedekiah caved in: "If you say so. Go ahead, handle it your way. You're too much for me."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you."

Contextual Overview

1 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard that I was telling the people that 2 the Lord had said, "Whoever stays on in the city will die in war or of starvation or disease. But those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will not be killed; they will at least escape with their life." 3 I was also telling them that the Lord had said, "I am going to give the city to the Babylonian army, and they will capture it." 4 Then the officials went to the king and said, "This man must be put to death. By talking like this he is making the soldiers in the city lose their courage, and he is doing the same thing to everyone else left in the city. He is not trying to help the people; he only wants to hurt them." 5 King Zedekiah answered, "Very well, then, do what you want to with him; I can't stop you." 6 So they took me and let me down by ropes into Prince Malchiah's well, which was in the palace courtyard. There was no water in the well, only mud, and I sank down in it. 7 However, Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who worked in the royal palace, heard that they had put me in the well. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate. 8 So Ebedmelech went there and said to the king, 9 "Your Majesty, what these men have done is wrong. They have put Jeremiah in the well, where he is sure to die of starvation, since there is no more food in the city." 10 Then the king ordered Ebedmelech to take with him three men and to pull me out of the well before I died.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

for: 1 Samuel 15:24, 1 Samuel 29:9, 2 Samuel 3:39, 2 Samuel 19:22, Proverbs 29:25, John 19:12-16

Reciprocal: Genesis 16:6 - in Exodus 23:2 - to decline Joshua 9:25 - we are Job 1:12 - power Job 31:34 - Did I Jeremiah 26:14 - As for Jeremiah 37:17 - asked Jeremiah 38:19 - I Daniel 6:16 - the king

Cross-References

Genesis 38:11
Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Return to your father's house and remain a widow until my son Shelah grows up." He said this because he was afraid that Shelah would be killed, as his brothers had been. So Tamar went back home.
Genesis 38:26
Judah recognized them and said, "She is in the right. I have failed in my obligation to her—I should have given her to my son Shelah in marriage." And Judah never had intercourse with her again.
Genesis 46:12
Judah and his sons: Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. (Judah's other sons, Er and Onan, had died in Canaan.) Perez' sons were Hezron and Hamul.
1 Chronicles 4:21
Shelah was one of Judah's sons. His descendants included Er, who founded the town of Lecah; Laadah, founder of the town of Mareshah; the clan of linen weavers, who lived in the town of Beth Ashbea;

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then Zedekiah the king said, behold, he [is] in your hand,.... In your power, to do with him as you please. This is either a grant of the king, allowing them to do as they thought fit; or a declaration of their power, supposing them to be the princes of the sanhedrim, as Grotius thinks, to judge of a false prophet, and condemn him; but that they were such does not appear; nor does their charge of the prophet, or their procedure against him, confirm it. The former sense seems best:

for the king [is] not [he that] can do [any] thing against you; which is said either in a flattering way, that such was their interest in him, and so great his regard for them, that he could not deny them any thing. So it is in the old translations, "for the king may deny you nothing"; and, "the king can deny you nothing": or else in a complaining way, suggesting that, he was a king, and no king; that he had no power to oppose them; they would do as they pleased; and therefore it signified nothing applying to him; he should not say any thing against it; he would have no concern in it; they might do as they pleased, since he knew they would.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

All real power was in their hands, and as they affirmed that Jeremiah’s death was a matter of necessity, the king did not dare refuse it to them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 38:5. He is in your hand — Ye have power to do as you please; I must act by your counsel. Poor weak prince! you respect the prophet, you fear the cabal, and you sacrifice an innocent man to your own weakness and their malice!


 
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